Prior to retirement, the goal is to build and accumulate wealth. This is often done by favoring growth stocks. Some great examples of these are Tesla Motors, 3D Systems, and LinkedIn. All three of these companies are still early in their corporate lives. If they're technologies and services continue to take hold, they could end up being significantly larger than they are today. By contrast, if they don't, then they could easily go out of business.
Stocks that are great for retirement aren't necessarily good for someone who's trying to build wealth. Lest there be any doubt about this, McDonald's (NYSE: MCD ) and ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM ) serve as textbook examples of the point. In many respects, retirement serves as a clear inflection point in one's investment objectives.